View full sizeCourtesy of Fat Pencil StudiosDesign for the North Williams Avenue 'Bike Highway' continue to evolve. Shown are plans for the intersection of Williams and North Fremont Street. North of Fremont, the street will have a shared lane for bikes and cars turning left.

Just when it seemed the new design for North Williams Avenue, sometimes referred to as a "bike highway" by some in the neighborhood, seemed complete, changes keep coming.

On Tuesday, BikePortland’s Jonathan Maus posted an extensive summary of Saturday’s design unveiling, which included some minor changes since the last public discussion. The post sparked a torrent of criticism from readers. Reaction among members of the project’s citizen design committee, known as the stakeholder's group, was more mixed.

The design now maintains two auto lanes and one bike lane on the left for a three-block stretch from the entrance to the Fremont Bridge at North Cook Street to the proposed New Season’s Market at North Fremont Street.

BikePortland put it this way:

PBOT's Rob Burchfield said the city feels two standard lanes are needed in this area to avoid auto congestion due to the volume of car traffic coming off the I-5 freeway onto Williams via Cook combined with all the new trips and auto circulation that is expected to come with the New Seasons Market on that block. Without two two lanes, the city feels, there won't be enough green time in the traffic signals to "service the traffic" to the extent they feel comfortable with.

So, if you were traveling along Williams from North Broadway to Killingsworth Street, you would see the street change:

At Interstate 5 from one bike lane on the right to one bike lane on the left and one auto lane.

At North Fargo Street to two car lanes and one bike lane.

At Fremont to one shared lane for bikes and vehicles turning left and one car lane.

At North Alberta Street back to one bike lane on the left and one car lane.

More than 100 comments have been made on Maus’ post, most of them tearing into the design. This comment by Jake Cummings typified the sentiment:

“... proposed plan will confuse local bicycle riders and drivers for some time, at the very least will be a source of frustration and at the worst cause deadly collisions.”

Today, I asked stakeholder committee member and neighborhood resident Michelle DePass if the design was getting too complicated?

“The short answer is ‘yes,’ ” DePass said. “I do think that a fair amount of re-education of motorists and bicyclists and pedestrians for that matter will be necessary. “

Bicycle Transportation Alliance staffer Susan Peithman said her group’s position is that the new transition around New Seasons Market isn’t safe.

“We don’t feel it meets the safety objectives of the project,” Peithman said, adding that the BTA hopes to meet with city officials next week to suggest changes. “We think it’s especially dangerous at the pedestrian crossings.”

However, the concern wasn’t universal.

Allan Rudwick has been on the design committee, like many, for over a year. He wasn’t particularly impressed with the latest design kink one way or another.

“I think what we’re getting is better than what we have,” said Rudwick, who is also chairman of the Eliot Neighborhood Association. “It doesn't seem that counter-intuitive. There are enough bikes on Williams that people will just watch out for them -- just like they do today.”

The stakeholders will meet again to sign off on a final design in an as-yet-unscheduled meeting.